JACKSONVILLE, Florida – The P-8A Poseidon has started air-to-air refueling testing and is on course to test its multi-static active coherent (MAC) anti-sub search system and High Altitude ASW (antisubmarine warfare) Weapons Concept Mk. 54 torpedo and high-altitude sensor upgrades.
“We have an aircraft at Edwards Air Force base,” U.S. Navy Capt. Tony Rossi, program manager, said last month. “They’ve been out there a week and a half, doing air-to-air refueling. We’ve been testing with KC-135 from the Air Force. We’ve done nine flights so far. The testing had gone very well – we’ve passed 10,000 gallons of fuel on a flight. The primary focus has been on the flying qualities of the aircraft.”
The Navy is now using the data to help develop a high-fidelity P-8A air-to-air refueling trainer, he says.
The first engineering change proposal (ECP) for the MAC system is in the fleet today, following developmental and operational testing. It was fielded to the fleet in the summer and fall of 2015.
“We are currently flying [the system] for training,” Rossi says.
The next evolution for MAC, ECP 2, is currently in developmental testing “It is expected to go into operational testing this summer,” he said.
Thus far testing has gone as expected. “It’s a complicated problem,” he said. “We are improving the operator’s workload through signal processing. You put that much energy into the water and have to sort through thousands of returns that are coming back, everything from fish to rocks to subs. Which one do you care about? We are shedding the load off the operator.”
 
Part of the testing difficulty, he notes, is simply getting the submarines. The operational tests are scheduled to last about six months. “That’s highly dependent on our ability to get ‘targets,’ the correct type of subs in the correct type of water. Scheduling could be longer, it could be shorter. It depends on subs’ availability. They are highly sought-after assets.”
Regarding the Mk. 54 torpedo, he says, “Portions of high-altitude ASW testing are ongoing right now.” While the weapons are being developed by another program office, the Poseidon community is working on doing the P-8A integration testing.
Safe-separation testing is scheduled for the end this summer, he says.